Serpent's Strike
by Miqdad Suleman
Summary: Response to my own 'Serpent's Strike' Challenge. Salazar Slytherin didn't always hate muggles, but one death cemented the opinion he was later known for. [Horrible— Read at your own risk!]


Once he had been his brother in all but blood, now they were sworn enemies. There had been a time when Salazar was more important to Godric than his own daughter. He regretted that now. He saw how Salazar had already been manipulating him long before the day he betrayed them.

He still remembered the day Salazar completely cemented himself as dark in their minds. The children had all gone to the nearby village of Buryensmeade to celebrate the graduation of the very first student to join Hogwarts. His daughter, Rhea, had been among them. Rhea adored Helena Ravenclaw and Helena doted on Rhea. Godric knew Helena wouldn't let her get hurt, so he had let her go.

And then, two hours later, the village burned under Salazar's Ignis Maledictus.

He sank into a chair as the memory pushed itself to the forefront of his mind.

_He'd always hated using the new 'floo powder' to travel, but at the moment, he could think of nothing but relief and gratitude for Helga's insistence they each keep a stock of it._

"_Rhea!" he called out upon leaving the flaring green fire burning in the fireplace. The village inn, The Hunters' Abode, was usually full of travellers and locals seeking warmth and Lord Reddiston's succulent meat dishes, yet at the time, it was silent. He made to move forward, but stopped and stood stock still as he heard a sound._

"_Identify yourself or I will strike you down." A voice snarled," I assure you; I can do so with nary a word." The voice seemed familiar and was obviously male._

"_It is I," he declared, "Godric of Gryffindor, son of the noble knight, Sir Leon of Gryffindor and the gentle lady, Leandra of Alexios."_

_He moved forward carefully._

"_You knew them, did you not Lord Reddiston?"_

"_I did." Said a man as he moved from the shadows near the back and into the light. _

"_You know it is me, yet I remain wary of your identity. If you are Lord Reddiston, tell me this, what truly took my wife's life?" He swallowed his grief at the question he asked, knowing it was necessary, being that it was the only thing that none but the two of them would know and drew his Ash wand with his right hand, resting his left on the pommel of his sword._

"_I remember Eurydice," the man said, his gaze filled with regret, "she was killed by Salazar of Slytherin before he fled Hogwarts Castle."_

_Godric lowered his wand and asked, "Where's my daughter? "_

"_I'm afraid I do not know. All I do know is that someone cast an Ignis Maledictus on the house where the King of Alba, Constantine, son of Cuilén, was residing during his time here."_

_Godric gasped._

"_The rex Scottorum has passed?" he asked._

"_He has," Reddiston replied, just as gravely._

"_And the village?" _

"_The fire cannot be stopped. It is only a matter of time now until nothing remains of the village but ash. I saw Lady Rowena and Lady Helga approach the figure controlling it, but despite their ongoing duel, the man still has full control over the flames of the fiends."_

"_Salazar." Godric breathed. It could only be him. No other man or woman in the entirety of Alba had such mental skill._

"_I must go, my Lord." He said after a pause. "Fare thee well."_

"_Fare thee well, son of the Lion and Lioness. May the serpent's strike prove futile."_

_With a nod, Godric left the inn. He had to dodge huge fiends of fire as he ran towards the source of the fire and where flashes of spellfire could be seen._

In hindsight perhaps he should have paid closer attention to Reddiston's words. His family were known for their seers and Rowena had inherited her sight from their blood. Thankfully, Rhea was later found when the village was being rebuilt with the new name of Hogsmeade, but her legs were burnt beyond even magic's capability to heal. She would never walk again.

_**Serpent's Strike**_

Rowena Ravenclaw had never been prouder of her daughter, Helena, who would now go down in history as the first graduate from Hogwarts.

Her daughter was in the village then and Rowena thought to use her time alone well. She drew focusing runes around her, centred around sight, soul, future and balance.

It was designed to focus her gift of sight to the immediate future, particularly the turning points, where one decision could change lives.

She sunk into a meditative state and waited.

Surprisingly quickly, she began to see. To hear and understand. She would know.

For a moment, everything went dark. Then she saw.

_Fire… There was so much fire._

"_The king! Save the king!" she heard._

_She looked around and saw the village near Hogwarts. The very village Helena was currently visiting. What was it called again? Burensed? Burnsmeade?_

_Buryensmeade, that was it. She was in Buryensmeade and everything was burning. People were running past her, some streaming towards the only exit, while some ran towards the king's residence._

_She followed the fire back to its source, not having to bother dodging, seeing as she wasn't truly there. At the foot of one of the larger mountains, stood Salazar and her heart ached for him._

_His usually well-groomed, jet black hair was hanging lank and reached his shoulders. His once aristocratic features now seemed brittle. His body was emaciated. _

_Yet, despite the broken features, she could still see traces of the old Salazar. The determination in his emerald eyes as well as the effortless control he had over the flames terrorizing the village reminded him of the time they'd spent building Hogwarts._

_When she reached him, his steady gaze faltered and he looked around wildly._

"_I feel you. I know that magic." He said_

_She should leave, she knew. But she couldn't._

"_Aderyn?" Salazar asked, his voice full of desperation._

_Tears streamed down her face as she remembered her sister. Aderyn lived up to her name and was like an eagle in mannerisms. She had been so heartbroken when she died, even deciding to make her houses crest feature an eagle rather than a raven. But here she was sympathizing with her murderer, Aderyn's husband._

_She retreated into the familiar comfort of her mind and forced herself back to the present._

As soon as she could see the world around her again, she hurriedly disrupted her runic circle's charge to prevent any accidents and ran towards Helga's quarters. She explained what she had seen as she remembered it and Helga's face took on a steely quality.

Many believed Helga to be the weakest among the four founders due to her gentle nature. But anyone who truly knew Helga would know that should one of her own be harmed, she would release her wrath on the source. And being on the receiving end of her wrath was somewhere no sane person would want to be.

And so, together, they left Hogwarts and entered the village by foot, following the already present fire to its source once again, and engaging Salazar in a duel.

She ignored the pangs she felt as she was reminded why she had never taken a husband after Salazar had married her sister.

_**Serpent's Strike**_

Helga was tired of it all. The daily reports of death had begun to affect even the students now and she could tell some of the older students agreed with Salazar's message.

Anger clouded her thoughts as she thought of the fourth founder. He had taken so much from each of them.

It made her want to eviscerate him, but she was needed at Hogwarts. It wouldn't do to throw her life away to chase him down. But if the man ever met her on the battlefield, she would take great pleasure in making his death as slow and painful as possible.

She was surprised when the chance presented itself to her immediately. Rowena came rushing into the room and described what she saw. She'd had to hide a sadistic grin. Rowena was worried enough for Helena and smiling sadistically would only serve to augment her worry.

They rushed to the village and followed the fire to the foot of a mountain. There, Salazar stood, looking exactly as Rowena had described.

She shot the first spell, a spell designed to stop one's heart, with great pleasure and Rowena joined in with her own spells, albeit much tamer ones.

Godric joined them a moment later, looking as though he'd run for a mile. Together the three of them fought to break the fourth founder's concentration enough to let the fire dissipate.

It was not an easy task, the other man was renowned for his mental aptitude, but slowly they broke him down. And when the fire finally died down, Salazar left with the telltale crack of Apparition.

_**Serpent's Strike**_

Godric groaned to himself as he was waylaid by a messenger holding a scroll with the seal of the serpent. Salazar's symbol.

He resisted the urge to smite the sneering man standing before him, remembering that harming the messenger was a declaration of open war. The founders had decided to keep from the war. It was too painful to fight the man they once considered their brother. Whoever had thought of that was someone who Godric wouldn't hesitate to strike.

Though, he thought, as he untied the parchment scroll and began reading, upholding the rule might not be necessary anymore.

The 'Serpent's Lord', as he was called by his followers, was asking for a meeting to parley.

"Tell your master that I will think over it and reply by messenger bird," Godric told the messenger.

The sneering man spared one last glare before leaving with a 'dramatic' swish of his robes (It would have been dramatic had he not tripped over the hem of his black and silver robes).

Chuckling to himself, he walked towards their meeting room and sent messenger Patronuses to Helga and Rowena. He sat in his chair at the square table by the fire, setting the scroll on Salazar's chair.

He didn't have to wait long for the others. Barely a minute had passed when both came walking into the room.

"Godric?" Rowena said, searching his face carefully.

He gestured to their seats and they both silently sat. Godric passed them the scroll and leaned back into his chair.

"Damn him!" Rowena said, throwing the scroll to the floor. "What does he think gives him the right to come back after all these years and rip open wounds that _he_ caused?" she spoke with such venom that Godric was taken aback.

"He took Aderyn, he almost took my Helena too, and now he dares come back?" she spat.

"We don't know what he wants to say Ro-" Helga started.

"' I invoke, no, request the right of parley'." Rowena quoted mockingly. "It's clear what he wants Helga, he's come crawling back. Why else would he?"

"Forgive me, Rowena," Godric interjected. "But I knew Salazar better than either of you. His writing always became messy when he was grieving or regretful."

He picked the scroll up and thrust it at her.

"Look at his writing."

In some places, it was almost indecipherable, which was in stark contrast to the fourth founder's usual writing.

Rowena glared at him but said no more.

_**Serpent's Strike**_

_Salazar,_

_I acknowledge your invocation of the right of parley and accept. So I swear by my honour, so mote it be._

_Godric of Gryffindor._

_**Serpent's Strike**_

"You've decided to return then?" Rowena spat; venom clear in her voice.

"Do not think I have changed my mind about the muggles," Salazar said. "my beliefs are the same."

He continued before any of them could continue.

"Now. My healer has predicted that I have another," he conjured a model of the sky, similar in function to the enchantments he'd put on the Hogwarts Dining Hall's ceiling, then said as he vanished it again, "less than, actually, half-hour in this world."

He put up his hand when he saw Helga's vicious look soften and Godric make to speak.

"I do not want your pity. I tell you this so you know that you should know that I intend to let the war die with me."

"You say it as though we can forget the ones you killed." Rowena spat. "Aderyn, Eurydice, countless others. And to think I once loved you."

"I didn't kill them, Rowena."

He continued speaking into the ensuing silence.

"Aderyn was everything to me. I would never-" He shook his head, hiding behind his expressionless mask again. "That day, she went to gather potions ingredients. And they caught her."

"The muggles!" Godric gasped. "She was burned, wasn't she?"

Before Salazar could answer, he began coughing and fell out of his chair.

"Salazar!" Godric cried, rushing to his side.

"Don't" he gasped out as Godric raised his wand to try and heal him. "I'm ready to go. To see my Aderyn again."

And then he died.

_**Serpent's Strike**_

He woke up in a room covered in fog. It reminded him of the Hogwarts Dining Hall as he remembered it.

"Salazar." A voice said. A voice he knew all too well.

_**Author's Note**_

Welcome to my first published item that's actually a story! This is a response to my own 'Serpent's Strike' Writing Challenge, the details of which can be found at the end. Before that, however, there were a number of things that I wanted to clarify. So here they are, in a list.

\- Only Godric's section and the last part (messenger scene to final battle) starts in the 'present'. The rest are all on the day of the fire.

\- When I say 'Ignis Maledictus', I am referring to Fiendfyre. I didn't think the name would have been around since its creation, and so I am referring to it by its Google Translated incantation.

\- The name 'Rhea' is used because, in Greek mythology, the sacred animal of the Titaness Rhea is a lion. I thought Gryffindor and so, yeah.

\- 'Leon' is literally a Greek name that means 'Lion', while 'Leandra' means 'Lioness', from the same language. 'Alexios' is, once again, Greek, meaning 'protector and helper of humankind'.

\- Eurydice, in Greek mythology, was the wife of Orpheus and was killed by a snake that she had trod upon while being pursued by Aristaeus (according to Brittanica, 'divinity whose worship was widespread but concerning whom myths are somewhat obscure. The name is derived from the Greek aristos ("best"). Aristaeus was essentially a benevolent deity; he introduced the cultivation of bees and the vine and olive and was the protector of herdsmen and hunters.) I thought it was fitting to have Salazar be the snake that killed her when she 'trod' upon him.

\- 'Alba' refers to the Kingdom of Alba, which was the Kingdom of Scotland during the period of 900-1286. Constantine III was the monarch during the period of 995-997 and Hogwarts is said to have been founded around 990. If Helena took seven years to complete her education, this would have been the year of his passing anyways.

\- 'Rex Scottorum' is Latin for 'King of the Scots'.

\- 'Aderyn' is Welsh for 'bird'.

\- Parley means 'a conference between opposing sides in a dispute, especially a discussion of terms for an armistice'. It can also be used as a verb as I did.

\- I call it the 'Dining Hall' rather than the 'Great Hall' because I believe the name was given to it later.

This is my first published work and so I ask you to please review with what you thought and how I could improve my writing. As promised, here's the challenge.

**FanFiction**: Harry Potter

**Plot**: It is common knowledge that Salazar Slytherin was a dark wizard who led a crusade against muggles. What is not known is why.

**Compulsory**:

\- Only Het pairings (if any) or Gen.

\- Salazar must be dark by the end of the story.

\- Salazar must have a reason to kill muggles.

\- The other three founders (if set during the time of, or after, the founding of Hogwarts) must be against Salazar.

**Allowed**:

\- Oneshot or Multi Chapter story.

\- Salazar is the one to coin the term 'muggle'.

**Forbidden**:

\- Light/Grey Salazar.

\- Slash pairings.

\- The other founders joining Salazar.


End file.
